El-Sharif Muhiddin Hayder’s origin combines history, education, and humanitarianism since he is from the Hashemite Family: the holiest family among the Arab World and a direct descendent of the Prophet of Islam, Mohammed (S).

El-Sharif Muhiddin Hayder, born in the city of Istanbul in 1892 AD, is the son of El-Sharif Ali Hayder Pasha bin El-Sharif Abdulmutaleb the last Emir of Mecca. He received his education in Istanbul and graduated with two high degrees from the Faculty of Law and Dar al-Funun Faculty of Arts.

From a young age, El-Sharif Muhiddin’s music journey began by trying to play what he heard from the songs on the piano. When he reached the age of seven, his interest in the Oud instrument began, as he used to listen to the great professors of music who visited his father’s palace in Istanbul. At this age, he started discovering the Oud instrument and how to play it. Although he did not receive music lessons regularly, he mastered the Oud when he reached the age of thirteen. El-Sharif Muhiddin Hayder, at this young age, was able to compose (Samai Hazam) the first stanza, the tasleem and the second khana.

In 1919, El-Sharif Muhiddin composed unique, remarkable, and immortal music, such as “The Running Child”, “Meditate”, and “I wish I had a wing”, that were not known before in the Oud instrumental music nor the Saz (Bağlama). Renowned masters of Oud and music at that time supported his distinguished professorship and genius, and his new and distinctive methods he developed for the Oud and the Saz (Bağlama).

El-Sharif Muhiddin Hayder is considered one of the most important musicians who composed the most creative and original musical pieces and mastered the highest stages of playing the Oud. His musical works are recognized with a coherent structure and ideas, full of inspiration and feelings. His music composition is consistent with the old compositional rules, however, the methods he created made the Oud an instrument that has global potential.

El-Sharif Muhiddin Hayder diverse study and knowledge of music and its general culture, whether Arabic, Eastern, or Western, made him the first to bring cultural dialogue through music and its impact on world peace. His renewal and developing methods in music spread in many parts of the world, making El-Sharif Muhiddin the first to laying the foundations of Cultural for Peace especially after the first world war.

In the year 1924, El-Sharif Muhiddin traveled to America, and in the first week of his arrival, the famous pianist Al Kudowsky hosted a banquet in his honor, attended by world artists, including Chrisler, Heifetz, and Professor Auer, and other personalities. In this banquet, and based on request of the host, El-Sharif Muhiddin performed some of his musical compositions on the Oud, which won all the guests admiration. On August 24, 1924, an article appeared in the New York Herald Tribune - Studies Section, in which highlighted El-Sharif Muhiddin have created a revolution in the world’s music.

In the December 1928, he performed his first concert in New York City Town Hall, where he played on the cello musical pieces and sonatas for Locatelli, St. Signe, Sebastian, Bach, Popper, and Ravel, in addition to his other works on the Oud. The Sunday Telegraph and New York Times newspapers published articles praised El-Sharif Muhiddin elegant, distinguished style and distinct ability in playing the cello instrument, and producing harmonious sounds not heard and were not familiar with before from his Oud. This remarkable success of El-Sharif Muhiddin Haydar after this concert and subsequent concerts made him among the most distinguished artists worldwide.

In 1932, King Faisal (I) of Iraq El-Hashemite invited his cousin El-Sharif Muhiddin Haydar to Baghdad and lead the establishment of the Kingdom of Iraq Official Higher Institute of Music. El-Sharif Muhiddin Haydar welcomed the King’s invitation and worked on the establishing the Institute which was opened in 1936. The work of El-Sharif Muhiddin was not limited to managing the institute, but he himself taught the two instruments (Oud and Cello). Some of El-Sharif Muhiddin Haydar’s students are Jamil Bashir, Sarkis Orsho, Salman Shukr, Mounir Bashir, Ghanem Haddad, Salem Abdullah, and the famous woman poet Nazik Al-Malaika.

The music of El-Sharif Muhiddin Haydar is quite known for spreading joy and happiness, and its beautiful spiritual and expressive depth, which is capable of refreshing the mind and senses and creating new horizons and ideas.

In his music, El-Sharif Muhiddin did not start from his own happiness or tragedy only, but rather from the spirit of the era and its feelings. As for the elements of joy, grace and lightness, it is one of the many aspects in his music, where there is the quiet romantic side, as well as the full sense of individuality and collective sometimes. The closer people get to his world, the more we realize the extent of its breadth, inclusiveness, and distinction, as he was always looking for innovations stemming from the heritage and the idea of Arabic music, and through his innovations that pour into the essence and depth of music work, such as (finger and plectrum technique, double signs, choosing important positions that no one has dealt with before due to the difficulty of composing on its scale, finding new templates, developing the concept of divisions).

El-Sharif Muhiddin was able to transcend the methods of his time, discovering new horizons and means of expression. Despite his worldwide recognition and fame, he remained a humble artist searching for the science, knowledge, and culture of music.

El-Sharif Muhiddin interests were not limited to music only, but he was also interested in painting. Some of his works are placed in museums and exhibitions. Among the most famous of his paintings is a portrait of the poet Abdel-Haq Hamed, one of which was placed in the Top Kapi Saray Museum, and the other was placed in front of the university.

In 1950, El-Sharif Muhiddin left Iraq to Istanbul to receive medical treatment, and remained in Turkiye, with his wife the Turkish singer Safiya Ayla. Despite of his illness, El-Sharif Muhiddin Hayder continued to compose music till he died in Istanbul on September 13, 1967. El-Sharif Muhiddin is burried in Zincirlikuyu Mezarlığı in Istanbul.